I can tell you this, I didn't really cook much before Spark. I learned to cook well and cook healthy meals by challenging myself to try one new recipe or food each week. By doing that I found a lot of great dishes I like and discovered new favorite foods.

Tracking your food here really will help. There was an actual study done on it and people who tracked their food lost more weight than those who did not track.

I love the idea of putting a salad with a meal. I do that often. Before Spark I wouldn't have dreamed of eating spinach, but now I can go through a pound a week by myself.

If I could go back in time and give myself one piece of advice, I would tell myself that scales are the least accurate way to measure success. It's easy to feel that success is all about the number of pounds lost, but a low weight does not equal good health or good physical condition.

Have you checked out some of the recipes in the Spark Recipes section ? Chef Meg as well as many members have posted all sorts of different recipes. Why not try a couple ? What's your favorite food ? What meals do you make ? Whatever it is you make look up the recipe and you'll find healthier versions or ways to make your recipe more healthy.

If I were to go back in time and give myself one piece of advice that would help me lose weight, it would be this,"eat 6-9 servings of fresh fruit and veggies each and every day". Eating more and more servings of veggies is what helped me to lose the weight.

Do you cook ? Do you find cooking hard to do ? If you don't cook, I can understand why you find creating meals difficult. Let's take a sandwich. What's a way to make a sandwich more healthy ? You could start by swapping the white bread for whole wheat bread. Use lean cuts of meat like turkey or chicken. Then add slices of tomato, some sliced onion and romaine lettuce. Use mustard for topping. Simple, tasty, healthy.

What's another simple thing you can do ? Whatever you're having for dinner, pair a BIG leafy green salad with it. eat a salad with lunch. If you don't want to eat a salad, then when you have dinner, make sure there are 2-3 different vegetables on your plate. Why have one serving of spinach when you can have two ?

Eat more veggies. Eat fresh fruit for snacks. Drink more water instead of soda. Those three things will help you to lose weight and be healthy. Will you drop the weight overnight ? Nope. weight loss is a slow steady process that takes time.

My advice would be to check out the Spark recipes section. Pick out some of your favorite meals and try some of the healthier Spark versions.

KANOE10
Posts:
5,605
2/2/12 2:56 P

I agree..Follow the Spark Meal plan and start planning and tracking on Spark. Then try to add exercise..walking? It works. You can do it. Just start planning and planning.

have you tried following the spark meal plans? Are you sticking to the calorie range spark gave you? Just watching calories is really all you have to do in most cases; the actual specifics of the menu affect overall healthy more than weight. For me exercising in addition to eating right makes the weight come off faster.

Call your pharmacist or doctor about if the sleeping pills you are using have weight related side effects. I can tell you that I use to take a few OTC sleep aids and they did not appear to affect my weight; but Rx versions may be different.

Keep at it, eating right and exercising is at least good for your health even if the weight doesn't come off as quickly as you'd like.

Please, can someone tell me, how to get on track and lose weight, the right way? I my way is it's not working. I do not want to lose hope. However,it makes it hard not to, because I'm not losing, and it's making me feel discouraged. I need a a menu, that have work for someone else, to jump start their weight loss.I'm DESPERATE! Also, does anyone know if sleeping pills make you gain weight.

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